bridewell



(No Model.)

R. F.- BRIDEWELL.

STREET GAR PROPULSION.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented June 12,1883.

- wv'am N. PETERS Phnlo-Lilhognplmr. Walhin pppp C.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

R. F. BRIDBWELL.

STREBTGAR PROPULSION. No. 279,325. Patented June 12,1883.

::::::: & Piwlo-Ulhognphnr. Washmgton, n. c.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.) R. F. BRIDEWELL.

STREET OAR PROPULSION. No. 279,325. I Patented June 12,1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE. I

RICHARD F. BRIDEVELL, OF SAN FRANCISCO, GALIFORNIA.

STREET-CAR PROPULSION.

-SPECIFICATI.ON forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,325, dated June12, '1883. Application filed January 520, 1882. (No model.)

To all, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD F. Berni;- WELL, of San Francisco, in thecounty of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in the Propulsion of Street-Oars; and Idohereby'declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit pertains to make and use it, reference being had of thisspecification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the propulsion of street-cars;and it consists in the combination of a suitable curved frame, whichisto be placed at every curve in the road, and an endless chain, which isprovided with large bearingrollers,v which serve as guides for the cablein passing around the curve,suitable small friction-rollers which bearagainst the curved frame, suitable spurs formed as a part of the linksfor the grip of the car to strike against, and suitable smallsupportingpu'lleys which run upon opposite sides of the flange formed onthe inner side of the bedpiece, so as to keep the rollers pressedagainst the bed, as will be more fully described hereinafter.

The object of my invention is to have the cable bear only against largepulleys, which carry the cable sufficiently far away from the bed-frameto prevent the grip from touching the frame, and which rollers revolveidly upon their pivots u'ntilthe grip of the-car strikes one of theprojecting spurs of the endless chain, when the whole chain will bemoved along until the grip has passed beyond the curve, when all of thechain comes to a rest again, with the exception of the largeguiding-pulleys.

Figure 1. represents a plan view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection of the bed-frame. Fig. 3 is a detail view. Fig. iis a frontelevation of my invention.

.At each curve in the road there is built a suitable foundation of brickor stone, and up on the top of this foundation is secured the bed A,which has a suitable wide flange or projection, B, which extends upwardany suitable to the accompanying drawings, which form part distance.This flange is placed suificiently far inward from the edge 0 of the bedto form a track up 011 which the supp orti 11g -rollers travel 'Boltedor otherwise secured in any suitable manner to this bed-piece A is aniron frame, D, which is bent over at its top, so as to form abearingsurface, E, for the friction-roller F. The two parts B E form thebearings against which the friction-rollers F of the endless" chain bearwhile it is in motion. This endless chain is composed of a number oflinks, G, of any suitable length,'which are united together by the pinsH. In between the friction-rollers, upon the pins H, are placed the .theframe, and these pulleys I turn idly upon the pins H while no car ispassing around the curve. These pulleys serve simply as guldes for thecable, and serve no other purpose.

As the pressure of the cable is brought to'bearentirely against theselarge pulleys I, as the,

cable passes around the curve the whole pressure is brought to bear uponthe pins H, and these pins H force the small pulleys F against the twoparts B E of the frame. These pulleys F remain stationary against theirbearing places upon the frame until the chain is started in motion, andthen the whole pressure of the cable is transferred through themto theframe. Each one of the links G, which has its end at tached to the pinor rod which passes through the large pulleys I, has a spur orprojection, L, formed upon it; and which spur or projection extendsoutward beyond the circumfen ence of the large pulley I. This spur Lserves for the grip of the car to strike against, and

when the grip comes in contact with one of these spurs L the forwardmovement of the car is communicated to the entire endless chain. Nosooner does the grip strike against the spur than the large pulley Iwill stop its movement, and the small pulleys F then travel with thesame speed as the cable.

By means of the construction above described the car can be carried atfull speed around the curves inthe line, and can be stopped or startedat any portion of the curve in the road;

The pins or axles H, which pass down through the pulleys F and I, passbelow the under sides of the bottom links, G," and these bottom linksrest upon the tops of a double series of rollers, N, which are unitedtogether by means of the links I, which sepal ate them. These rollersare arranged in pairs, and have the same axles or bearings, O, whichpass through the links P, as shown.

Upon the top of the bed-piece, upon the inner side, is formed a suitableflange, Q, and th ese rollers N, coupled together in p airs, travel uponopposite sides of this flange for the purpose of keeping the endlesschain in contact with the frame, instead of having it assume a straightline from one end of the frame to the other. Should the cars pass up anddown upon the same street, there will be two of these 'frames andendless chains arranged at each bend in the road, one for the cable thatgoes up and the other for the cable that comes back. The frames are ofcourse to be placed below the level of the street, as is always the casewhere the ears are to be drawn along by trac tion. It will be seen fromthe. above arrangement that about one-half of all the large groovedrollers I will be turning idly upon their axles from frictional contactwith the moving cable, while the other portion of the pulleys remain atrest. \Vhen the chain is once started in motion by the grip of a carcoming in contact with one of the spursof the endless chain all of thepulleys I will be moved along with the chain at the same speed that thecable is moving.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim- 1. The combination ot'asuitable curved guiding-frame and an endless chain provided with aseries of large pulleys which turn idly upon. their-axles fromfrictional contact with the ca ble, but which are moved along with theendless chain when the grip of the car starts the chain in motion,substantially as shown.

2. The combination of the curved bed-frame provided with the bearings 13E, and an endless hain provided with the small pulleys F, the largepulleys l, spurs for the grip to strike against, and suitablesupporting-rollers, sub stantially as described. A

3. The combination of the curved guidingi'rame provided with theguiding-flange A, the supporting and guiding rollers N, connectedtogether in pairs by means of the links I, and the endless chaincomposed of the links G, roll ers F, and pulleys I, substantially as setforth.

4:. The combination of acurved guidingi'rame and an endless chain whichis provided with large guidingpulleys for the cable to bear against, andspurs i'or'the grip of the ear to strike against, the parts being soconstructed that the chain remains stationary until the grip of the carcomes inbontact with one of the spurs, when the whole of the endlesschain is set in motion, substantially as specified.

5. A curved bed-frame around which the endless chain is passed, the saidbed-frame be ing provided with the bearing-surfaces B 1 and aguiding-flange, Q, in combination with a suitable endless chain which ispassed around the said frame, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I a'l'tlx my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

RICHARD FRANCIS BRIDEWELL.

\Yitnesses JOHN. W turn, JAMES Sir-rut.

